The Chilli Workshop

A common thread

Jollof rice is found in many countries in West Africa. The dish is a chord that runs throughout the regions cooking, with versions found in Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Gambia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and Liberia.  Particularly in Ghana and Nigeria, Jollof rice is considered a national dish to be proud of.  Both countries consider their Jollof rice as the best in the West. So much so that there is great rivalry between chefs in these countries to prove who takes top spot.  Even though the subject has been hotly debated, there has never been unanimity on who the crown should go to.   Neither side is prepared to budge. To both Ghanaians and Nigerians, their own versions of Jollof rice are unbeatable

The primary difference between Ghanaian and Nigerian Jollof rice is the type of rice they use to make it.

In Nigeria, parboiled long grain rice is used. On the other hand, basmati rice (also known as Thai Jasmine rice) is used in Ghana. The basmati rice has more starch than the rice the Nigerians use.  The basmati rice also has a characteristic aromatic spell

The different ways of preparing these rices for this dish leads to another difference between the two Jollof rices. In Ghana, the rice is not parboiled. Doing so would make the rice soggy. Instead, the Ghanaians first rinse the rice and then cook it in stock, and the tomato stew that forms the base of their dish. The Nigerians parboil the rice and then rinse it water before making their version of the dish.

Another difference is in the spiciness of the dishes. Ghanaian Jollof rice is spicier than Nigeria’s . The Ghanaians use Scotch bonnets, Chilli powder and Shito (an oily hot sauce made with Scotch bonnet Chillies, dried fish and crustaceans, garlic, and tomatoes) to spice their Jollof rice. The Nigerians however use bay leaves as a key ingredient (together with Scotch bonnet Chillies) to add pungency and spiciness to their version of the dish.

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The origins of gumbo

Gumbo is a dish that it so closely assimilated with Louisiana in the American South that it is difficult to imagine it originally came from Africa.  However, it is closely related. Indeed, it even gets its name from ki-ngombo or ochinggômbo, West African words for Okra

In its original form, Gumbo would have been made from Okra by African slaves. Okra (or ladies’ fingers as it is known in many European countries) is a vegetable the ensalved people brought with them from West Africa.  It is an edible green pod with mucilaginous properties. These means it can be used to provide a vegetable element to dishes, but also to thicken them

The enslaved people would have used Okra to make one pot stews.  This was a method of cooking they used in Africa. They may have made Gumbos with or without meat or seafood, but one ingredient was certainly not going to be left out. That ingredient was of course Chillies. Gumbo just wouldn’t have been Gumbo without them!

While the original Gumbo dish may have come from Africa, the dish is fact fusion food. Besides its West African origin, it has French, Spanish, Caribbean, and even Italian influences. Consequently, there is no one all inclusive version of Gumbo.  It depends on the availability of ingredients and the region the Gumbo comes from. Areas closer to the coast traditionally have their Gumbos containing seafood like prawns, oysters and fish, while in areas more inland, Gumbos will be made with chicken and sausage.

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African influence on other cuisine

Many people might not associate Chillies with Africa. In fact, Chillies and Africa are irrevocably linked through the history of the continent, its people, and the type of cuisine eaten there. From South Africa, right through into Central Africa, East, and West Africa, you will find Chillies being used in everyday cooking. Be it curries in Durban, South Africa, Rolexes in Uganda or Frango Piri- Piri in Angola, Chillies can be found in Africa in all their glory

One particularly unpleasant part of the continent’s history resulted in the Africans’ love of Chillies spreading far beyond its borders. This was a consequence of the slave trade. During this awful era, millions of Africans were forcibly removed from their homelands and coerced into working as slaves. They were transported from Africa by sea (or by crossing the Sahara desert  to North Africa) and then on to Europe, the Caribbean, the USA, and South America.

In the Caribbean and South America, slavery would probably have meant working as labourers on sugar cane plantations. In the American South, it could have involved toiling in the fields of tobacco farmers, working in rice plantations, harvesting cotton or as domestic servants. In Europe, the enslaved people would have been put to work as domestic servants, cooks, or labourers in agriculture.

The Portuguese were one of the first to participate in the slave trade in Africa, but the English, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Danish soon followed them. These slave traders kidnapped their slaves mainly from West African countries, like the modern-day Senegal and Benin, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Angola, and then sold to work as unpaid labourers at the beck and call of their masters

The influence these enslaved people had on the cuisines of the countries they were sent to is truly amazing. It is a powerful legacy from that terrible time that is thankfully here to stay. Dishes like Jerk pork from Jamaica, Feijoada from Brazil, and barbequed hog from the American South all carry the hallmarks of cuisine that has its origin in the cooking of enslaved peslaves from Africa. And what fine cooking this is!

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A perfect match

In a previous post, I mentioned that I would be experimenting to make a hot sauce with mangoes and Aji Amarillo paste. To me, they promise to be a perfect match in a hot sauce . On the one hand, their colours are similar – a bright orange yellow – and the other, the flavours are bound to complement each other.  Aji Amarillo has a fruity taste. I can imagine it will combine exceptionally well with the tropical taste of mango. It is certainly worth a bash

Making hot sauces is great fun, but it requires a lot of trial and error to get it right. Sometimes you can get it spot on, but other times it takes a bit of tweaking here and there before it finally becomes just right.  I was hoping this sauce would fall into the latter category. I have made sauces like this along a similar theme in the past, but never with Aji Amarillo paste.

Previously, I would have used Scotch bonnets to make this type of sauce, because it leans towards Caribbean type hot sauces. Indeed, the sauce I am about to make can be successfully made with fresh Scotch bonnets. To substitute, simply blitz two to three Scotch Bonnets with the other ingredients. From there, if you follow the other steps I took to make the sauce below, you will have a delicious Caribbean sauce

That being said, now is the time to try something new. A totally new hot sauce needs to be be created . So, let’s roll up the sleeves, don the apron, and get into the kitchen.

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Fusion food

Caribbean cooking is fusion food of the highest order. It has influences, among others, from Africa, South America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. In addition to Chillies, which are massively popular, other common ingredients are rice, plantains, beans, cassava, cilantro, bell peppers, chickpeas, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and coconuts.  These are expertly combined with garlic, onion, herbs , spices and various meats like beef, poultry, pork or seafood like fish or prawns

One spice, besides Chillies, that stands out is pimento or allspice. It got the name allspice in the 17th century (when it was first imported to Europe), by virtue of the fact that it tastes like a combination of clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Allspice is used together with nutmeg, black pepper, thyme, cayenne pepper, paprika, sugar, salt, garlic, and ginger in dishes like Jerk Chicken and pork.  The wood from the Pimento tree is also used to smoke jerk meats.

One of the most important Chillies in Caribbean cooking is the Scotch bonnet.  It is so important that the Ministry of Agriculture in Jamaica has even created a classification system for them. The MOA Scotch Bonnets, as they are called, have three grades.  The best grade should have a cup and saucer shape with three to four well shaped lobes, be not less than 4,5 cm in diameter, and have a uniform colour typical of the variety. The second and third grades are far less stringent in their requirements, with the lowest grade not even requiring the lobes to be distinct. It doesn’t necessarily even have to have the distinctive cup and saucer shape of the classical Scotch bonnet.

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